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More than sixty students of the Government Middle School in Manglian, located in Udhampur district, are facing a severe crisis as their school building has been left highly compromised.
The structure developed dangerous cracks following heavy rainfall and a series of landslides in August 2025, raising serious safety concerns for the children and staff. The situation has been worsened by an intense ongoing summer heatwave, which prevents students from taking their lessons outside in the open air. Consequently, they are forced to study in the veranda of the structurally unsafe building, sitting directly beneath the visible cracks while trying to escape the scorching heat. Urging immediate action, the students have appealed to the government of the Jammu and Kashmir union territory and the education department to expedite the sanctioning and construction of a new school building. They highlighted that sitting inside the classrooms is entirely unsafe, leaving them with no choice but to crowd into the veranda until a secure environment is provided. Speaking with ANI, a student, Simran, said, "The problem is that whenever it rains, this school has been damaged since then. And we sat outside all winter. Even now in summer, we sit outside only. We want to request that this building be built as soon as possible." Another student, Preeti, said, "Due to so much sunlight, we cannot study. The teacher teaches us, but our school is broken. There are big problems in our school. We sit outside, now for a few days we are sitting inside the broken school. We also go to the 'baoli' (stepwell) to drink water, and our school's bathrooms are also damaged. I want to request that the government build our school as soon as possible." Meanwhile, Chief Education Officer Udhampur Subash Gupta stated that the administration does not want young school children to suffer. He noted that summer vacations lasting approximately one and a half months are expected to be announced within a few days, and this period will be used on a priority basis to find an immediate solution until a new building is constructed. The education official has already directed the concerned zonal education officer to submit a detailed report and assess land feasibility. "We will write a letter to the ZEO today, the concerned ZEO, to get a written report on nearby land so we can work it out as a building cannot be built here. We'll forward it to the DC office, district administration, to the ACR (Assistant Commissioner Revenue) sir for alternative government land. We'll try to suggest this at the earliest, within 1-2 months, as summer vacations are also coming. After that, once August comes, the permanent solution might take 6 to 7 or 8 months, but meanwhile, we'll arrange a tent system for the safety of children as schools reopen," he said. He also mentioned that officials will soon meet with sarpanches, panches, parents, and local residents to identify suitable land so that the construction process can begin as soon as possible, assuring students that their studies will not be disrupted. (ANI)
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